Quick opening carton



March 5, 1935. A. R. wYLlE QUICK OPENING CARTON Filed July 2. 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 zawwfzz,

5, was; A. RQ WYILIE 411,993,200

' QUICK OPENING CARTON Filed July 2. 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Mar. 5, 1935 PATENT OFFICE omen" creme CARTON Arthur R. Wylie, Evanston, 111., assignor to Marathon Paper Mills Company, Rothschild, Wis., a corporation of Wisconsin Application July 2', 1934, Serial No. 733,425

3 Claims.

An object of this invention is to provide'a cardboard container for ice cream, or the like, which can be readily opened by unfolding the container from about the enclosed ice cream so as to permit the mass of ice cream to be removed and transferred to a dish as a block.

Another object is to provide a container which will permit this unfolding to be accomplished with a minimum of movements on the part of the operator.

These and other objects, as will hereinafter apear, are accomplished by this invention which is fully described in the following specification and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of an assembled carton embodying the invention;

Figs. 2, 3 and 4 are perspective views of the carton in various stages of being opened;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the blank from which the carton is folded;

Fig. 6 is a slightly enlarged section on the line 6 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. '7 is a section on the line '7-'( of Fig. 6.

The embodiment illustrated comprises a carton formed from a blank, as shown in Fig. 5, having a bottom 10, opposing sides 11 and 12 formed integral with the bottom but separated therefrom by fold lines. The bottom also has bottom flaps 13, 14 at opposite ends of the rectangular bottom, while the side 11 has inner flaps 15, 16 separated therefrom by fold lines, and the side 12 has outer side flaps 1'7, 18 also separated therefrom by fold lines, the flaps 13 and 14 being severed from the flaps 1'1 and 18 on the lines 19. The side 11 has a cover flap 20 and the side 12 has .an overlying flap 21 also separated by fold lines. The outer side flaps 17, 18

. have locking flaps 22, 23 which are adapted to 40 overlie and to form an interlock for holding the carton in assembled relation;

To fold theblank up. so as to form acarton,

the bottom flaps 13, 14 are folded up substantially at right angles to the bottom. The inner flaps 45 15," 16 are then folded up in the same way and the side-11 folded up until it assumes a position little less than 90 from that of the bottom.

The flaps 13, 15 and the flaps 14, 16 are so formed that their adjacent edges meet through- 50 out, as shown in Fig. 6. This is a point of com siderable importance for the reason that substantially no space is left between them through which melted ice cream or other liquid can seep.

Continuing the assembling operation, the out- 26 and spots 27, 28 at the outer corners of the tainer, after which the overlying flap 21 is folded over it and the locking flaps 22, 23 folded over the flaps 20, 21 and locked by inserting the locking tongue 24 in a locking slot 25 in a well known manner.

The overlying side flaps are secured together preferably by means of a relatively narrow strip outer flaps, this strip and spots being of a suitable adhesive, such as glue, which is applied to the contacting surfaces of all the flaps 1 1, 16, 18, and these surfaces are then pressed together and are held in this position until the adhe- 20 v sive has set. The flaps 13, 14, 15, 16 are provided with score lines.13 14 15 16 respectively, on the surfaces that have been glued and adjacent the glue strip to assist in opening up the carton, as will later be described. 25

In opening up this carton it is preferably laid flat with the side 12 down. -With the bottom of the carton-toward the operator he then grasps the carton in his two hands with his left thumb on the corner A (Fig. 2) and his right thumb 30 on the corner B. By forcing these corners outwardly, as shown in Fig. 3, he pulls the outside flaps away from the inside flaps, and in doing so breaks the glued spots 27, 28, after which the strips of glue 26 draw the inside flaps 15, 16 outwardly, pulling them out of contact with the 'ice cream or other material within the carton. Thus the spots 27, 28 serve to hold the outer corners of the flaps but yield readily to a pull on the corners A, B.

This operation of drawing the inside flaps outwardly is assisted by the score lines 13, 14 15 and 16 which yield, as shown in Fig. 3. When the outer'side flaps have been laid back, as shown in Fig. 4, the operator then takes hold of the cover flap 20 and the side flaps 15, 16, which have already been opened outwardly to some extent, and the'side 11, and the flaps carried thereby can then be folded back and spread 01ft on the table substantially as shown in the position of Fig. 5, at which time the block of ice cream C rests on the opened carton but is only in contact with the side 12. A knife or other suitable fiat utensil can then be slid under the block of ice cream 55 so that it can be liited tree from the carton and deposited on a plate.

Thus it will be seen that the locking flaps, made integral with the outer side flaps, serve the additional purpose of tabs for pulling open the carton.

While I have shown and described but a single embodiment of my invention, it is to be understood that it is capable of many modifications. Changes, therefore, in the construction and arrangement may be made which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention as disclosed in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A folded cardboard carton comprising a bot tom and opposite side members, the bottom having bottom flaps and the side members having side flaps, the side flaps overlapping in folded relation, each outer side flap overlapping the opposing side flap, a narrow strip of adhesive connecting the overlapping surfaces of the flaps and extending longitudinally of the outer. flap and spaced from the outer edge of the outer flap so as to leave a longitudinally extending unattached flaps, the side flaps overlapping in folded relaflap, and a light spot of adhesive connecting each outer upper corner of each outer flap to the flap beneath to prevent accidental severance of the longitudinal connection and adapted to be I readily broken by a pull on the outer flap.

3. A folded cardboard carton comprising a ho"- tom and opposite side members, the bottom having bottom flaps and the side members having side flaps, the side flaps overlapping in folded relation, each outer side flap overlapping the opposing side flap and bottom flap, the last named flaps lying in the same plane adjacent the out side flap, a narrow strip of adhesive connecting the overlapping surfaces or the side and bottom flaps and extending longitudinally of the outer flap and spaced from the outer edge of the outer ilap so as to leave a longitudinally extending unattached outer: edge portion on the outer 'fiap, and a light spot of adhesive connecting the outer edge portion of each outer flap to the side and bottom flaps beneath to prevent accidental tearing loose of the longitudinal connection and adapted to be readily broken by a pull on the outer flap. 

